The celebration last night lasted until after ten o'clock.
Everyone had a blast.
After all, High School graduation was just around the corner.
For many, once they turned around, they might never see each other again in this lifetime.
This is life; it's like a train.
At every station, someone will accompany you, but when the train reaches their stop, that person will leave, perhaps never to be seen again.
In the days that followed, Ye Chen also prepared to begin his University life.
One day, just as Ye Chen got out of bed, he received a phone call from Xu Liang.
"Ye Chen, you're famous!"
"Famous?" Ye Chen was completely bewildered.
"Not just you, your Hot Pot Restaurant is also famous!"
Ye Chen turned on his computer.
Very quickly, Ye Chen saw reports about himself; they were even in the news headlines.
Ye Chen's face in the photos was exceptionally handsome.
The headline was even more eye-catching: "Jiang Province's Top Scorer in the National Higher Education Entrance Examination Handed in His Paper Early Just to See His Girlfriend Sooner."
Opening the article, Ye Chen finally understood why he had gone viral.
It turned out that Jiang Province Television had broadcast an interview with him.
It included the two interviews where they encountered Ye Chen before the exam, followed by the interview with him after the exam.
For Ye Chen's sake, Jiang Province had actually recorded a special feature program.
In fact, what Ye Chen didn't know was that the provincial station had even held a special seminar regarding the broadcast of this program.
Ye Chen's interview segment was too controversial.
The side opposing the broadcast believed that promoting High School students dating would create a wrong social guidance.
However, the side supporting the broadcast believed that this might represent the new way of thinking for the new generation of youth.
Most importantly, the result was excellent; after all, Ye Chen had become the Top Scholar of the exam.
A Senior Year of High School student who was a slacker during his first and second years.
But in his Senior Year of High School, for the sake of love, he studied desperately and became the provincial top scorer—this story was truly inspirational.
Finally, the station director gritted his teeth and said, "Broadcast it!"
Actually, what frustrated the station leadership even more was the Hot Pot Restaurant advertisement within Ye Chen's interview.
But without that segment of the interview, the entire program would lose its continuity.
In the end, the provincial station could only swallow the loss and provide a wave of free advertising for Ye Chen.
After the program aired, it indeed became a hit.
The viewership ratings continuously hit new highs.
Not only that, the interview also went viral on the internet.
Ye Chen checked the view count; it had actually reached a staggering two million.
And that number was still constantly rising.
The forum sections were even more heated.
"Who says dating affects your studies? Do you see this? This is the power of love."
"My mom was always against me dating in High School. After I showed her the video, she's already started asking people to introduce me to potential partners."
"Holy crap, handing in the paper early and still becoming the Top Scholar? This is too badass."
"I feel like I don't have enough time for the exam, yet this guy actually hands it in early. This is so heartbreaking."
Ye Chen was very happy looking at the comments.
"Ye Chen, look, you're so famous now," Xu Liang couldn't help but say.
After watching the video, Ye Chen remained very calm.
This kind of news only stays hot for a few days; it wouldn't have any major lasting impact.
Ye Chen didn't pay it much mind... However, what Ye Chen didn't expect happened.
Reality slapped Ye Chen hard in the face.
"Boss, so many people have come to our Hot Pot Restaurant today."
Song Yuyu's shocked voice came through the phone.
When Ye Chen arrived at the Hot Pot Restaurant, he was instantly dumbfounded.
He saw that the entrance of the Hot Pot Restaurant was already packed with people.
It felt somewhat like a zombie siege.
Currently, the Hot Pot Restaurant was completely full, and there was a very long line outside.
The queue even stretched dozens of meters away from the shop.
Ye Chen was bewildered; what was going on?
At this moment, the employees in the shop were all working with their heads down.
Song Yuyu was so busy she was becoming a bit frazzled.
"I don't know either. As soon as we opened today, the entrance was swamped. Everyone is saying they want to eat 'Top Scholar Hot Pot'."
Ye Chen glanced at the other Waitresses.
Everyone was so busy their hands were moving in afterimages.
However, although they were busy, the staff were still relatively orderly.
What Ye Chen was most worried about now was that the Hot Pot ingredients wouldn't be enough.
He asked Song Yuyu: "Sure enough, the Hot Pot ingredients definitely won't be enough today; we can only do another hundred tables."
But looking at the people in line, there were at least another two hundred tables worth.
He estimated that the customers at the back would definitely not be able to eat Hot Pot today.
"Yuyu, hand out numbers up to one hundred, and stop giving them out after that."
Ye Chen understood that if these customers waited with great difficulty only for the shop to say they were out of ingredients, the customers at the back would definitely not take it well.
Song Yuyu also took a sharp breath when she heard this.
Luckily Ye Chen reminded her; otherwise, she really didn't know what would have happened.
She had been so busy just now that her brain couldn't keep up; she hadn't thought that far ahead at all.
In the end, after reaching number one hundred, all the customers behind them left.
Although some customers were dissatisfied, the Waitresses could only try to appease them with kind words.
Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo also came over to help.
Everyone worked busily until after nine o'clock at night before finishing the day's business.
By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted to the point of collapse.
Even though the air conditioning was on in the shop, everyone was drenched in sweat.
"The raw materials weren't enough today; let's add more tomorrow," Xia Yingluo said.
Ye Chen called the Factory in the provincial capital.
The Factory there had already started operating, and a new batch of meat could be delivered first thing in the morning.
Ye Chen looked at the employees who were already slumped in their chairs from exhaustion.
"Forget it, we won't add more. Although the raw materials are enough, our staff isn't. If we add more, everyone definitely won't be able to handle it."
While good business was a good thing, Ye Chen didn't want to exploit these employees.
Sure enough, hearing Ye Chen's words, all the employees let out a long sigh of relief.
At this time, Song Yuyu began to calculate the daily revenue.
When the results came out, Song Yuyu was so excited she was speechless.
"Yingluo, we've broken another record; we made twenty thousand today!"
This sales volume was more than double the usual amount.
Ye Chen was also stunned when he heard this result.
He had never imagined that in a place like Jiangzhou, opening a Hot Pot Restaurant could be so profitable.
"But why was our business so explosive today?" Li Sitong asked with a puzzled expression.
Xia Yingluo said, "I just asked the customers. Many parents saw the news on the provincial TV station saying that eating our Hot Pot can make you a Top Scholar, so everyone came to join in the excitement."
Only then did Ye Chen realize that he had still underestimated the power of the provincial TV station.
Although in the era Ye Chen came from in his past life, people scrolled through TikTok and watched mobile videos, and few people watched TV anymore.
But in 2008, television was still the primary evening entertainment for most adults.
Coupled with the Hot Pot Restaurant's 'Top Scholar' advertisement boost.
Those parents had certainly seen it and wanted to catch some of that good fortune.
However, Ye Chen also understood that this kind of popularity was certainly temporary.
Once the hype faded, the Hot Pot Restaurant would return to its usual sales volume.
But now that the Hot Pot Restaurant's brand was out there, a daily revenue of five or six thousand shouldn't be a problem.
Ye Chen had originally thought the Hot Pot Restaurant would lose money.
Making this much money was somewhat beyond Ye Chen's expectations.
Ye Chen's phone suddenly rang, and Han Jiaqi's excited voice came through the line.
"Boss, guess how much our provincial store made today?"